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G A L L I N I D JE. 



In this country the peacock is a very hardy bird, 

 braving, out of doors, all changes of the weather, and 

 roosting in the lofty trees, instead of seeking the same 

 humble shelter as the common fowls. It is worthy 

 of remark, as a peculiarity in the natural history of 

 those splendid natives of tropical climates, that they 

 are found wild in the forests or the north of Europe. Of 

 course they are not indigenous there, but have escaped 

 from confinement, finding the forest more congenial 

 to their habits than the vicinity of human abodes. It 

 is in Norway that they are understood to spend the 

 summer months ; but in the severity of the Scandi- 

 navian winter they are frozen out, and are obliged to 

 take their departure for more genial climates. It 

 should seem, however, that the cause of this is want 

 of a due supply of food, rather than incapacity to 

 bear the severity of the winter. At that season of 

 the year they are said to migrate into Germany, where, 

 though the winter is still cold, they seem to meet 

 with a more abundant supply of food. This fact, 

 which appears to be well authenticated, is deserving of 

 attention by those who are interested in promoting 

 the natural decorations of the British islands ; for if 

 wild peacocks can live in Norway, and have volunta- 

 rily taken up their summer abode there, there is little 

 doubt that they could, if the numbers were carefully 

 increased, summer and winter in almost any part of 

 our islands ; and if we had our forests stocked with 

 peacocks, it would add greatly to their beauty and 

 interest. 



When in a state of nature, and in the native 

 localities of the south, the peahen is described as 

 breeding only once in the year ; but the accounts 

 state that the eggs are very numerous, consisting of 

 as many as twenty-five, or even thirty, at a hatch. 

 These eggs are of a whitish colour, with dusky 

 speckles ; and the female is understood to deposit 

 tnem in some concealed spot, where they may be 

 secure not only from beasts of prey and snakes, but 

 also from the male, who is very apt to destroy them. 

 In our northerly climate, and in a state of domestica- 

 tion, the peahen is not nearly so prolific. The num- 

 ber of her eggs seldom exceeds five or six, and her 

 time of incubation varies from twenty-five to thirty 

 days, according to the temperature of the place and 

 the season of the year. In the warm parts of Europe 

 sne is more prolific. For instance, in Greece, she 

 lays from ten to twelve eggs ; and, in the absence of 

 her male, she will likewise produce barren eggs, 

 which the ancients termed " zephyrian," as they were 

 supposed to result from the genial stimulus of the 

 vernal gales. When pleased or delighted, and in 

 sight of his females, the cock erects his tail, unfolds 

 his feathers, and frequently turns slowly round, as if 

 to catch the sun-beams in every direction, accom- 

 panying this movement with a hollow murmuring. 

 His cry at other times is very unpleasant, which is 

 frequently repeated, especially before rain. He sheds 

 his superb plumes every year, and then, as if con- 

 scious of his loss, he courts the most obscure retreats, 

 lill the returning spring renews his lustre. The 

 young acquire the perfect brilliancy of their plumage 

 in their third year ; but in cold climates, they require 

 attention in rearing, and should be fed on grass, meal, 

 cheese, crumbs of bread, and insects, until they are 

 seven or eight months old, when they will eat wheat, 

 and various kinds of grain, like other gallinaceous 

 birds. In this respect, however, the peacock is 

 extremely capricious and there is scarcely any kind i 



of food which it will not, at some time or other, pur- 

 sue. Tender plants and insects are often eagerly 

 sought for at a time that it has a sufficiency of its 

 natural food at command ; and during the indulgence 

 of these unnatural appetites, walls cannot easily con- 

 fine it ; it strips the tops of houses of their tiles or , 

 thatch, lays waste the labours of the gardener, roots 

 up his choicest seeds, and nips his favourite flowers 

 in the bud. In India one of its most mischievous 

 propensities is picking at the eyes of children, which 

 it probably takes for some glistening object of prey. 

 It lives about twenty-five years, according to Aristotle, 

 but Willoughby and others allege that it is capable 

 of existing for near a century. When full grown it is 

 not readily injured by cold, and an instance is quoted 

 of one which was found quite frozen, and had lain 

 for some days in the snow, in the court yard of a 

 house in Dunkirk, in the year 1776, and which, by 

 the application of a gentle heat, recovered from the 

 accident, and continued to live as if nothing particu- 

 lar had happened. These birds are also found to . 

 thrive in North America, notwithstanding the severity 

 and duration of the winter season. In our cold cli- 

 mates, however, they seem to be incapable of very 

 extensive flights ; but they roost aloft in trees, or on 

 the tops of houses or steeples, whence they utter their 

 discordant scream. Though long naturalised in Europe, 

 they are of eastern origin, occurring in the greatest 

 profusion in the neighbourhood of the Ganges, and 

 in the extensive plains of India, particularly in Guze- 

 rat, Cambay, the coast of Malabar, the kingdom of 

 Siam, and the island of Java. As early as the days 

 of Solomon they were imported into Judea by the 

 fleets which that monarch equipped on the Red Sea, 

 and which, in all probability, traded to the coast of 

 Malabar. From India they were brought into Asia 

 Minor, and subsequently into the isle of Samos, where 

 they were formerly much multiplied, and consecrated 

 to Juno, but from which they have now wholly dis- 

 appeared. In the time of Pericles they still fetched 

 a high price in Greece. According to ^Elian, thirty 

 years after their first importation into that country, 

 they were exhibited at Athens as a show to strangers; 

 and he adds, that multitudes flocked to see them from 

 Lacedemonia and Thessaly. Alexander had never 

 seen peacocks till his Indian expedition, when he 

 found them flying about in the wild state on the banks 

 of the Hyarotis, in the Punjaub, or land of streams, 

 and he was so delighted with their splendid appear- 

 ance that he decreed a severe penalty upon any one 

 of his army who should kill or even molest them. 

 He carried them with him on his return, however ; 

 and it appears that they had bred freely, for toward 

 the close of Alexander's short but brilliant reign, 

 Aristotle speaks of them as birds familiarly known in 

 Greece. The account of their importation into the 

 country of the Jews, at a more early period than this, 

 which is stated in the English translation of the Bible, 

 is in all probability a mistake of the translators ; be- 

 cause, if the living birds had been introduced there, it 

 is highly probable that they would have found their 

 way into other parts of the western world. They 

 were not introduced into Rome till about the time of 

 the decline of the republic ; and, according to the 

 account given by Pliny, the orator Hortensius was 

 the first who introduced them at table, in a feast which 

 he gave to the company or college of augurs. His 

 example was, however, soon followed by others ; and, 

 as the luxury of the Romans consisted fully as much 



